tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post2703933975633946346..comments2019-01-21T02:35:17.274-05:00Comments on just up the pike: who's "neglected" in east county?Dan Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594208011755406956noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post-54011208965781741322009-05-18T23:10:00.000-04:002009-05-18T23:10:00.000-04:00I think montgomery county is eventually going to l...I think montgomery county is eventually going to look more like a suburban version of dc, the west and I 270 corridor will continue to be affluent and the economic engine of the county like NW DC and the east part of county will continue to decay and grow more violent and low income and will look like more like a suburban version of NE DC.Akilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03102635414403863481noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post-46938242114682285922009-05-18T20:12:00.000-04:002009-05-18T20:12:00.000-04:00I wonder, does Stuart Rochester complain about "de...I wonder, does Stuart Rochester complain about "demographic imbalance" when there are too many white people in one place? Or is imbalance only caused by the presence of too many people of color?<br /><br />He says communities work when there is socio-economic and demographic balance. <br /><br />But what does that balance look like? Half poor and half people of color? Is that the balance he's going for? Because if it is, we need <EM>many</EM> more people of color to achieve the balance that Stuart's seeking. <br /><br />So let's push to get a whole lot more minorities into the county, so Stuart can have some "balance."marylandgangshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09591401959270176336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post-64274202439225764452009-05-18T19:56:00.000-04:002009-05-18T19:56:00.000-04:00One of the reasons people move to Olney is because...One of the reasons people move to Olney is because both the majority of Olney and the majority of its infrastructure are 30 years old, or less than 30 years old. <br /><br />Another thing about Olney: they have very little public transportation, and there's a period of time between when significant public transportation/mass-transit reaches a place, and when the community adapts to it, when all of the riff-raff sees the newly-accessible destination as fresh fields for fun and frolic.<br /><br />Let's just say that Aspen Hill's problems -- especially those in South Aspen Hill -- didn't really come into being until all of Ride-On routes were added. <br /><br />A lot of folks moved out of here mostly because of who they saw getting on and off of buses in front of their houses. I personally think that the best thing that could happen to improve Aspen Hill right about now would be eliminating the Ride-On 48 route. The route of the old Metrobus tended to serve mostly professionals commuting to Federal and comparable jobs in the inner cores, the route of the Ride-On 48 tends mostly to serve hourly workers commuting to the Rockville Industrial Park, and also it serves a lot of seriously messed-up people going to and from their low-rent or disability provider services such as Manna's monthly handouts, etc., or people connecting to get to the addiction/rehab services concentrated at 751 Twinbrook Parkway. <br /><br />But that's how the Developers and their pals on the County Council force the building of new Sprawl... let certain neighborhoods -- many of them in District 4 -- just go straight to hell, and everyone who can afford it will demand a new house in Olney. Their flight -- which could be "white flight" but which really is mostly middle-class flight -- is from increasing poverty and slumburbianization, to areas with well-maintained or fairly "young" infrastructure, and especially they're headed for places where the middle-class culture is thriving and even growing, and where the culture of poverty and hopelessness has barely reached. <br /><br />How blessed is life in Olney? <br /><br />A few weeks ago I was out doing some public-service community stuff in close-in Olney, and some l'il gangsta fool type drives by with the thug face on and all of the stalwarts of the PTA actually had the nerve to yell "slow down, okay" at him. Here in Aspen Hill we grown-ups just shake our heads and wish we could afford to move to Olney where those gangsta fools aren't the clear majority and just waiting for us to die, and as obviously getting tired of waiting. <br /><br />Other people here in Aspen Hill who aren't moving? Orthodox Jews who are not going to move more than a mile from their place of worship. Then again, maybe they'll get sick of it too, and build a couple of nice synagogues farther out, and move. And there will go the last of our middle class here, unless you want to count the folks who are about to move from here to Leisure World.Thomas Hardmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07951423786343852055noreply@blogger.com